Day 1 - Costa Rica here we come!

We learned several months ago that Kevin had been invited on a "work" trip to Costa Rica. The thought of going some place tropical and warm during early March had me running to get my passport. We lined up the grandparents to come stay and got everything in order and the time finally arrived for us to leave.

Friday, March 5th our morning started at 3:00 am. We left for the airport at 4:15 for our 6:15 flight. The roads were empty. When we got to the airport the line was out the door for American Airlines. This immediately put my hubby who travels in a panic. Apparently, there was a group of college students heading to Belize to build a house and there were also college students heading out for Spring Break. What happened to driving in a car for 14 hours for Spring Break?!

Anyway, we got checked in and through security with time to spare. As we were waiting we ran into our friends Leigh and Dana and POG as they were getting ready to head out for a concert and chatted with them.

We flew into Miami and it was only in the 50s brrrrr! We waited for a couple of hours , met up with several of Kevin's coworkers and then boarded the plane for our flight to Liberia, Costa Rica.

From the air Costa Rica looks pretty barren. We flew over an active volcano that had smoke coming out of it! We also flew over our resort. We didn't know it at the time, but we did get a picture!

We landed in Liberia and went through immigration in a very warm airport. After that, our pampering began. We were greeted by the resort staff who had already pulled our luggage and loaded it on a cart. We went through customs and then headed out to the bus. We were greeted by taxi drivers all swarming wanting to offer you a ride. We proceeded to the bus, our luggage was loaded, we were offered a cold, wet towel and an ice cold bottle of water.

The drive to the Four Seasons Resort at Peninsula Papagayo was about 35-40 minutes. The terrain was rather barren, but we found out that we were there during the dry season. We really only saw fields and mountains, with a few homes scattered here and there. Once we got to the resort area, everything changed. it was green and lush. The entrance reminded me of Jurassic Park.

We saw monkeys in the trees and a huge iguana crossing the road. Since we were on a peninsula, there was water on both sides framed by mountains. It was absolutely picturesque.

After arriving at the resort, we were greeted and led to the welcome reception. They offered us another wet towel, juice, free sunglasses and a snack buffet with majorly awesome guacamole.

Then we were given a quick tour of the facility and taken to our room. Our room was fabulous! The view was amazing. Our luggage was delivered there.

We decided to order room service since we hadn't eaten since 5:30 am. While Kevin was ordering room service, I heard a banging noise and then a loud crash. Our ceiling fan crashed to the ground within 3 ft of Kevin. Yikes! We called and reported the ceiling fan mishap and waited for someone to come fix that (?) and for our food.

When they brought room service, they took it out to the patio and set a lovely table. We ate and then headed out to check out to the beach on the Pacific side and met some more of Kevin's coworkers. While we were there we saw monkeys in the trees. That was really cool, but a little unsettling! We also learned that Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush were staying at the resort.

That night there was a dinner on the beach for all of the attendees and their spouses. This dinner was under the same trees that the monkeys were in - also a little unsettling. The night was beautiful and the food was wonderful. After eating, we were sitting around and talking and a very cute raccoon came up to the buffet to check it out. One of the ladies in the group decided to give the raccoon a roll. Then we noticed that there were monkeys in the tree directly above our table. I immediately put my hand over my glass.

We thought they had left and then we heard a group of women screaming. We looked over and and saw something really nasty on the table next to us and then saw a stream of liquid falling from the air. The monkey had decided it was time to take a potty break. Nice! But, really really funny. Luckily, no one was hit.

We called it a night and headed back to our room. When we got there, we had our 1st "amenity" waiting for us. It was a beach bag from the resort. I love free stuff! And that was just day 1!